Stoke v Fulham Preview!

The Carling Cup takes centre stage during midweek with Fulham travelling to the Britannia Stadium to take on Stoke City.

On the surface we could have been awarded an easier tie with Stoke not being an easy place to go to. Nevertheless, our form this season does suggest that we can force a result there, even more so now that Mark Hughes has come out and inferred that he will be fielding the strongest side he has available.

Tony Pulis, on the other hand, could be set to make several changes. In their weekend fixture with West Ham, Kenwyne Jones, Jermaine Penant and Jon Walters all picked up knocks which could mean a first start for the ex-Chelsea man, Eidur Gudjohnsen.

In this all premier League clash, Fulham will be looking to defeat Premier League opposition for the first time in six years when Birmingham were the opposition.

Fulham will be looking to do something of a Potteries double have removed Stoke`s near-neighbours, Port Vale, in the previous round courtesy of a six goal hammering.

As far as meetings go between the clubs, Fulham have the edge in game sin all competitions, leading Stoke by 27 wins to 25. The clubs have met in this competition before when Stoke went through, on away goals, in 1994, although that was a second round tie.

With the tie having to be settled on the night, don`t bet on this one not going to extra-time!

Hope you turn over Stoke- desperately want to see them back where they belong in the Championship, in the meantime, get on this challenge................
A Challenge To ALL Vital Football Fans.
We need fans from every club to participate in The Greatest Poll- Who Will Finish Where. Pretty simple really...the poll is being conducted by Vital Wolves. We will run the poll for a week, tabulate predictions and release the results of our collaborative predictions.